NBA: LeBron ennobles Celtics and Coach Stevens

LeBron James and his team are in the Eastern Conference Finals for the eighth time in a row. The King wants to return to the finals, but first the Boston Celtics must be beaten. LeBron spoke highly of his opponent and their coach Brad Stevens.

“I haven’t thought about it yet,” James said when asked if he would be proud to reach the finals for the eighth time in a row. Only Celtics legends Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones (9 each) and Bill Russell (10) can boast a longer series. “I appreciate that. I came into the league, wanted to experience the big games and be as good as possible. I think that’s what I did in my career.”

Now James is trying to reach another milestone in his career – his ninth appearance in the finals. Recent visits to Boston have always been successful for the King, the last six playoff games in Beantown were always won by LeBron and his teams.

Nevertheless, the Cavs star has a lot of respect for his opponent, even though Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward lack the two most important players. “They are one of the best coached teams in the league,” James referred to Brad Stevens. “He gets the most out of his players and is outstanding with his timeouts and plays in a late shotclock. He’s been putting his players in good positions for years.”

With so many injuries, other players like Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier have had to take on more responsibility for Boston, and James has not escaped that. “They have boys who are incredibly good no matter how young they are. “They know how to play basketball and have a coach to get them into good situations.”

The Celtics also have the home advantage, as they performed significantly better than the Cavs in the Regular Season. The series starts on Sunday at 9.30 pm in Boston in a free live stream on SPOX.